GROT-SPOTS in North and East Oldham could be targeted, under a range of options being considered to tidy up the area.

GROT-SPOTS in North and East Oldham could be targeted, under a range of options being considered to tidy up the area.

Waste collection across the borough costs almost £2m annually, and Oldham Council has obtained some external funding toward this cost. But it is a massive task. Almost one-third of binmen's work involves clearing illegally-dumped, fly-tipped waste on back lanes, roads and land. Over 150 tonnes of fly-tipped material is cleared-up weekly.

Residents and councillors discussed the problem at the last East Oldham Area Committee meeting.

They were asked to consider a range of options, in an attempt to make the area cleaner.

Suggestions included drawing-up a local litter plan, forming an area team to schedule operations, identifying grot-spots for particular action, supporting local clean-up events, and sponsoring bins.

Oldham Council is considering employing an extra 24 street cleaners, increasing its mechanised sweeping patrols, and changing shift patterns for cleaners and dustmen, meaning more weekend, early-morning and evening patrols.

Committee members heard statistics which highlighted the extent of the council's problem, including:

Speaking afterwards, Cllr John Anchor said: "It's my own view that Oldham is a dirty borough in a relatively dirty country. I'm not clear why, but young people seem to be the worst offenders in Oldham. They're supposed to be more environmentally-conscious than older people, but that doesn't translate into actions with some of them.

"Many schools are the source of litter in their area. As councillors, we are forever receiving complaints from residents living near schools, especially secondary schools." But Cllr Anchor also said changes to paper and litter collection days may have led to confusion.

In the past, in some areas newspapers were collected for recycling on the same day as bins were emptied. But collections days had been changed, meaning papers were collected on different days from bins. This had confused some residents, who no longer left newspapers out for recycling, or left them out on the wrong day, with the result that old papers ended up littering the streets.

"It's not beyond the wit of man to solve this problem," said Cllr Anchor. "We hope to alter collection days again, to make it simpler for residents. But it's not the council that drops litter. It's individuals. We need to change attitudes."